Thursday, January 7, 2016
That was understandable. Just moments earlier, McAllister had become the first lawmaker in Vermont history to be stripped of his power to vote in the state Senate. His colleagues had voted 20-10 to suspend him, pending the resolution of criminal sexual assault proceedings against the 64-year-old farmer.
"Was this the outcome you expected coming into today?" Vermont Press Bureau reporter Neal Goswami asked as McAllister made his way down the Statehouse driveway toward his red pickup truck, parked 30 yards away.
"I think this was a foregone conclusion before we even started this week," the suspended senator said, pausing in the path as a crowd of reporters and photographers caught up to him.
A green-jacketed doorkeeper from the Statehouse Sergeant-at-Arms' office broke into the scrum to offer his assistance, presumably to help McAllister navigate past the rabid reporters.
"You all set?" the doorkeeper asked.
"I'm all set," McAllister responded. "Yeah, I'm fine. OK. Thanks."
Then the senator did something he's grown quite accustomed to doing since plainclothes detectives arrested him on the opposite side of the Statehouse last spring: He talked. And he talked. And he talked some more.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
It is up to Obuchowski to decide whether to allow a wintertime outdoor skating rink to be assembled on that special place. “The Statehouse lawn is a public forum. It’s a place where people can come and express themselves,” Obuchowski said. “To me, that almost makes it sacred ground in terms of small ‘d’ democracy.”
A group called “Put a Rink On It” has proposed setting up a 50-by-100-foot rink on the east side of the lawn near State Street. Organizers have the support of the city of Montpelier and have raised about half of the $20,000 they think they’ll need to erect and operate the rink, said Nate Hausman of Montpelier, who, along with Kim McKee, is championing the effort.
“It’s a space we thought doesn’t get a lot of use in the winter,” Hausman said, describing the idea as starting off half-baked, before it began whetting appetites around town.
Tags: Montpecular , Vermont Statehouse , Montpelier , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
The Vermont legislature will return to Montpelier next month, but its most famous facial hair will not. Seven Days can confirm: House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) has shaved his goatee.
"I just decided, I'm turning 50 on Wednesday and I said, 'You know what? I've had the goatee basically for 17 years,'" Smith said. "I just decided I was going to go with a little something new."
According to Wikipedia, the goatee dates back to Ancient Greece, and according to pogonologist Allan Peterkin, it's been out of style since the mid-1990s.
Without it, Smith claimed, "I look 10 years younger." He quickly backpedaled: "Maybe four."
(Factcheck: The speaker now looks about 14 years old.)
Tags: Shap Smith , goatee , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 14, 2015
House and Senate negotiators seek out empty rooms in which to settle their differences. Legislative leaders hole up in the governor's ceremonial office to hammer out the budget. But rarely does an entire committee conduct its business behind closed doors.
On Thursday, one did.
As a renewable energy bill neared a final vote in the Senate, all five members of the Committee on Natural Resources and Energy gathered in Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell's (D-Windsor) Statehouse office. They were there to debate a controversial amendment Campbell drafted that would give municipalities greater power to restrict the siting of renewable energy projects.
When a Seven Days reporter attempted to cover the meeting, he was turned away.
"Please, this is not a public meeting," Campbell said.
Tags: John Campbell , Jim Condos , Statehouse , open meetings , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Rep. Willem Jewett (D-Ripton), the former House majority leader, approached House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) at the dais shortly before the vote — and then disappeared from the chamber before the roll was called.
"Did I?" Jewett said Thursday when asked about his absence. "I heard the debate."
So why didn't he cast a vote on an amendment that would prevent leadership PACs from accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists until after the two-year biennium concludes?
"I didn't think it was a complete thought," he said of the bill. "Look, money finds the path of least resistance, and if anyone believes that that's going to somehow undo things, they're sorely mistaken. So you can pat yourself on your back if you want, but... I didn't think it was fully vetted. So that's what I chose to do."
"You left the chamber so you didn't have to vote?" Seven Days asked.
"I did. Yes," Jewett said.
Tags: Willem Jewett , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 9, 2015
The Democratic state rep from Westminster West wears Birkenstocks to the Vermont Statehouse. His day job, as a river steward for the Connecticut River Watershed Council, presumably involves a lot of canoeing and fishing. Heck, the guy even chairs the House Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources.
But the dude does not listen to Phish.
"Nope, I never have," he said. "I know they've been around. You hear about their concerts and other stuff, so I know what they are. But no, I'm not a fan, particularly."
So when the band's drummer, Jon Fishman, asked to testify before Deen's committee this week, he recalled, "I had no idea who he was."
Nor, it seemed, did the panel's other bearded bros, who looked nonplussed Wednesday morning when the 50-year-old Charlotte resident rose to speak in a first-floor Statehouse hearing room.
Fishman, who typically wears a doughnut-patterned muumuu on-stage, apologized for his appearance.
"I didn't know I was speaking next," he said as he pulled off a black hoodie, revealing a slightly more formal green sweater. "This is as well-dressed as I can be."
Tags: Phish , Jon Fishman , ivory trade , elephants , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 2, 2015
As the day wore on, those expressions grew more complicated. So complicated that discussion on the House floor was delayed until Friday. It seemed every statement condemning discrimination either went too far or not far enough for somebody.
Earlier this week, Gov. Peter Shumlin issued a ban on non-essential state travel to Indiana, which has drawn controversy for a religious freedom law many believe opens the door to discrimination against gays and lesbians. On Thursday, 26 House members sponsored a resolution asking Gov. Peter Shumlin, the legislature and judiciary to extend that ban to all states with similar religious freedom laws.
"This legislative body expresses its strong opposition to Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act as signed into law on March 26, 2015," the resolution read, "and expresses its support for, at a minimum, enactment of the proposed clarification and, preferably, for the law's repeal."
Indiana’s law was widely seen as a legal justification for private business owners to refuse, on religious grounds, to serve gays and lesbians. The law ignited outcry, prompting lawmakers in Indiana to vote Thursday to change the law to prohibit its use as a legal defense for refusing to offer services.
“We need to do this because I think it expresses the majority will of the people of Vermont,” said Rep. Paul Poirier (I-Barre), who was among the sponsors.
Tags: Indiana , religious freedom , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Monday, March 23, 2015
They were.
"I noticed that a lot of things that are illegal in Washington, D.C., are allowed here," Sterrett says.
Occupying a corner table in the Statehouse cafeteria most days, he observed, was the head of the Vermont Democratic House Campaign, a political action committee run by House leaders and devoted to electing Democratic legislators. The staffer, Katherine Levasseur, sets up shop in the morning, works from her laptop and entertains visits from top lawmakers.
House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) drops by her corner table. So does House Majority Leader Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D-Bradford), Rep. Tim Jerman (D-Essex), Rep. Kesha Ram (D-Burlington) and Rep. Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) — all members of the House leadership team.
"That stood out to me as something I'd never see in Washington," Sterrett says. "In Washington, you have an absolute ban on campaign work and fundraising efforts in any public buildings. And that does not seem to be the case in the legislature."
Tags: Katherine Levasseur , Montpeculiar , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 16, 2015
“I saw enough theatrics at the Statehouse this week,” he says.
Now chief of staff to House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown), the 28-year-old Wallingford native has long since traded his musical aspirations for political ones.
“I want to be in a job where I’m serving the public,” he says. “I truly am bought into that.”
On the surface, Giambatista fits the mold of the up-and-coming political aide: clean-cut, polite and a touch overeager. He even bears a striking resemblance to his boss, which prompted Smith to introduce him at a Democratic caucus last December as his “doppelgänger.”
But in the Vermont Statehouse, Giambatista’s background is anything but ordinary. He dropped out of high school in 10th grade, couch-surfed for years, toured with a band he describes as “quasi-straight-edge hardcore” and has more than a few tattoos.
Tags: Dylan Giambatista , Shap Smith , Rough Francis , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Last spring, the Riverside School eighth grader wrote Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) to suggest that Vermont adopt an official Latin motto: Stella quarta decima fulgeat — or, "May the 14th star shine bright."
Now a ninth-grader at St. Johnsbury Academy, Kubicke testified Wednesday in favor of legislation that would do just that. After a mere 45 minutes of discussion, the committee unanimously approved the bill — with Sen. Chris Bray (D-Addison) voting "affirmativus" — and sent it along to the full Senate.
"I think maybe not all bills go this efficiently," Kubicke remarked after the vote. "I was really excited that it passed all the way through and that I'm spreading the Latin culture. It's just keeping the torch moving."
Not all Vermonters, apparently, were sure which culture Kubicke was hoping to spread. After WCAX-TV reported on her campaign last month, dozens of linguistically, geographically and historically challenged audience members posted venomous comments on the station's Facebook page, evidently confusing ancient Rome with Latin America.
“No way this is America not Mexico or Latin America," wrote Ronald Prouty, Jr. "And they nee [sic] to learn our language, just like if we go there they want us to speak theirs.”
Tags: Vermont latin motto , Stella quarta decima fulgeat , 14th star , Image , Web Only